Lilacs & Lace: Vogue 2903

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Watercolor Printed Poppies

I was lucky enough to attend the Picasso Exhibition at the De Young Museum in San Francisco last week. And while he is certainly not my favorite artist, to see even a small portion of his work is incredibly humbling. His mastery of varied mediums and movements is stunning.

The galleries were extremely crowded, so it was a good thing that I had my crinoline on to give myself a little extra personal space! “Excuse me, pardon me, crazy lady who thinks it is 1957 coming through.”

The dress I pulled out of the closet for my day in San Francisco is Vogue 2903.

I adore this reproduction. The yoke construction is ingenious. The shoulder pieces are finished off and then the sleeves and yoke, which are constructed as one piece, get set into the finished garment. For a more formal look, the yoke section could easily be removed from the pattern altogether. I am surprised that the pattern does not include this as an alternate suggestion.

This is one of the reasons I adore vintage patterns and reproductions – there are so many more special touches to be found than with their contemporary counterparts.

The only downside with the dress is that the pleats can be a bit of a pain to iron. I made the mistake of basting them with a bright red color, and every time I iron the dress, I find more basting thread bits that I missed (at least they blend in with the cotton!).

The fabric was a lucky find from JoAnn Fabrics. These are not the colors I would normally be drawn to, but I could not resist the large scale watercolor print on crisp cotton.